LIFESTYLE

We've all been hearing about the horror stories as of late. North Carolina's harassing new law that banishes transgender people from the restroom of their choice is just one more in a long slue of laws and policies designed to rip away American freedoms from the LBGTQ community, under the fake guise of religious "freedom" which of course, ignores anybody not a straight, Christian, Caucasian male of anything resembling freedom.

Not too long ago, I remember reading an article that had my blood boiling. Sing along if you know it. A public school threatened to suspend a little boy, because he is transgender. A custodian caught him trying to go to the bathroom in the room designed for little girls, and he was so offended, that he told everybody in the school, and made sure faculty would block the boy (who dresses as a girl, mind you) from entering the "wrong" bathroom.

Now, if you are watching mass media, you're caught up on one side or another. You either think this is somehow enforcing "good" or maybe even "Christian" morals, or like the little boy's flustered parents, you are angry. You feel the slight of injustice for the little boy, and you are outraged that here we are in 2016, and we're still stuck in mid 20th century ideals, trying to bully children out of their bathroom time.

But if you're like me, then you're looking at the bigger problem these schools, laws and policies are supporting. And you have one, very good question.Who is allowing these perverts to genital-check people in the bathroom?

Think about it. Think very hard. The child in the public school story I mentioned was wearing a dress. His hair was done like a girl. His outfit was again, girlish. In order for the custodian to have known the boy was not really a girl, he would have had to look up the little boy's dress, or worse, asked him to drop his pants.

This means we don't have an identity problem. We have a pedophile problem.If you are a Christian, and you believe in Christian morals, shouldn't you be angered and disgusted that a fully grow adult went looking up the skirt of a little child? Regardless if this was a boy or a girl, odds are good that if he looked up the boy's skirt, it's not because he was worried the boy was confused. It's because he's looking for a little girl to prey upon, and by making a brouhaha out of whether or not LBGTQ kids deserve to pick their own potty, you are in fact ignoring and allowing a clear and obvious pedophile to gender-check little children. And that by the way, is not only immoral, it's illegal and it's a form of harassment.

The custodian was looking for a girl to sexually assault. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be gender checking little children in the bathroom. No longer should it matter what gender the little boy wants to be, when there is a predator in the hallway, allowed by the school to hang around children's bathrooms without being monitored. The Christian right are praising this man as a "hero" for protecting their idea of "value" when they should be asking if the remaining children are safe being at a school that is allowing strangers to check inside their pants.

Excusing religious freedom a moment, there are a few American rights here that should be at the forefront. For starters, we have laws against gender-based harassment. We also have a declaration of independence that specifically states we as Americans have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The latter of which is a broad term that should imply by it's writing that if an LBGTQ person wants to use a boy or a girl bathroom, based on how he/she feels about themselves personally, then it shouldn't matter to you or anyone else because it is part of their "God given" right to pursue their own happiness with themselves. Therefore, it is simply un-American terrorism to deny these people their right to use the bathroom they feel the most comfortable with.

Again, I must point out that the bigger problem is that we have perverts, disguised as "Good Samaritans" who are checking the pants and skirts of every complete and total stranger they come across in the bathroom. We have perverts and pedophiles gender-checking children, and not only are they expecting the right to hide behind "the good book" while doing it, they demand your respect and praise, when they have done nothing of value to earn such prestige.

The next time you read an article about someone raising a stink over who stinks up the bathroom, ask yourself this question: why are you looking at their crotch?

In all the years since I've been potty trained, I've never thought to ask for anything other than an extra roll of toilet paper. I simply obey a code of conduct every parent has given their child since the dawn of time.

I mind my own business.

I don't pants-check strangers to view theirs.

Koriander Bullard is an author, cartoonist and human rights advocate. Keep up with her on Facebook!